• Majala said GBV fight is being slowed down by parents who collude with sex pests to solve cases out of court.
• Most victims do not get justice because of lack of evidence.
Image: SOLOMON MUINGI
Lobby groups and administrators in Taita Taveta county have raised the alarm over increasing cases of gender-based violence, teenage pregnancy and defilement of minors in the region.
The fight against the vice, they said, is being slowed down by parents and guardians who collude with sex pests to solve cases out of court.
Statistics presented by Action Aid show that rape is the major form of GBV in the county although most cases are solved the traditional way. A number of cases are never reported to authorities as families protect suspects for fear of suffering public shame.
More than 1,243 teens fell pregnant in the area between January and June this year, according to data collected by Sauti ya Wanawake.
The groups under the Taita Taveta Gender-Based Violence Programme have kicked off an intensive review of the county policy on sexual gender-based violence in a bid to curb the vice.
The forum spearheaded by the Deputy Governor Majala Mlagui also seeks to strengthen the policy to tame increasing cases of sexual abuse and early marriages.
According to the deputy governor, the progress on the development of the policy has been a collaborative effort in a multi-sectoral team comprising actors from the county and national government and development partners.
"As we finalise this document, we need to embrace both long-term and short-term interventions towards eradicating SGBV in our county as well as supporting the survivors,” Mlagui said.
The county faces high cases of gender-based violence mostly affecting girls and old women. Most victims do not get justice due to lack of evidence or pressure from family members to drop the case. The area is also on the spotlight over the rising number of early marriages and female genital mutilation.
Majala said the team shall form committees to focus on improvement of public awareness on GBV and FGM at the grassroots.
"We are pushing for awareness on the national anti-FGM policy together with the sexual and gender-based violence policy. The campaign will ensure that the cases are eradicated," she said.
County chairperson for persons with disabilities Fatuma Kadzo affirmed the need to create useful synergies to address GBV.
"I urge all the stakeholder to put collective effort in order to bring to book all the perpetrators. The county should have a database which will provide accurate and reliable information on cases of GBV,” Kadzo said.
She added that there is a need to build the capacity of health officers to understand the processes well.
“We do not want to stigmatise survivors through re-examining them over and over again. We should develop proper procedures and a service charter to eliminate points of frustration where they are forced to relive the experience," she noted.
Edited by Henry Makori